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Oh, No--It's Summer!

Summer: time to skulk around in the shade and wait for autumn. Briefly dashes into the heat to water and pull out dead plants. Noooooooooo! Not 'Austraflora Fanfare' Grevillea! Noooooooooooooo! It was grooowwwwing! It had it's own dripper! It had excellent drainage! Whyyyyyyyyyyyyy!

The roses look like crap.

At least there are Dahlias.

And infant pumpkins.

In the meantime, I'm rebuilding a gate (in the shade). The wood was crumbling.

A new gate required only four trips to the hardware store--so far. It will soon be five. I primed the lumber but still need paint. Five trips doesn't include the trip to the lumber yard, or walking over to the neighbor's house with tongue and groove redwood in my arms. Neighbor was kind enough to cut a couple of pieces lengthways for me, with his nifty table saw. A copper cap would protect the top of the new gate...that's another trip...and wood putty...

It's been a good distraction, and is Useful Work, and is in the shade.There were a couple of other garden plants besides Dahlias I could inspect without cringing at what the summer will do to them. The seedling Oak, in February of 2014:Yesterday. Well over six feet tall now (2 meters)

I need to start thinking about whether or not we want a big oak tree in front of the house. At least it wouldn't need summer water.

Also growing like a weed is, surprisingly, the Leucospermum. The end of April 2015:

Late June 2015 (yesterday). Yes, the same plant. You can see a couple of the flowers in the photo above, now fading under new growth:

The fence looks great. I like the idea of a copper cap. I keep hoping we're going to have one of our milder summers - maybe with some monsoonal rain thrown in - but I fear that's yet another of my garden-related delusions. I'm very surprised about your Grevillea but have noted that my 'Bonfire' is also on the decline. My Osteospermum appears to be dead but that may (again) be my fault - if I ever try another one, I'll ask you for counsel.

I have read Grevilleas need regular water to establish before they go more xeric. With our cool May and bit of rain I cut the irrigation to once a week--was that it? I may have inadvertently also given it a splash of liquid fertilizer--it may have been that which killed it. It was growing so well...

Osteospermum--I killed mine, too. It is Arctotis that is effortless here. And maybe the Gazanias will be happy, if the Coyote has gotten all the rabbits--she apparently got two...

What species of oak is that? Very encouraging growth, but also hints at sizable eventual height (and spread). Love its looks -- delicate effect, with a (presumably) tough constitution.

I'd always be for having a locally adapted native tree to anchor the landscape if possible -- being the engine of support for insects and all the other life that depends on the bugs. In the east, our most common oaks (white, red, scarlet, pin) support more kinds of caterpillars than almost any other tree. But it's a huge genus, and maybe the southwestern ones aren't the linchpins of your ecosystem...?

That is Q. agrifolia, Coast Live Oak, from an acorn off the tree next door. As local as it can get. It is a linchpin species here too, which is why we planted it. I do worry about the eventual size--not because I will be here to see it, but because it may get removed for that reason--well, nothing I can do about that except help it to become as magnificent as possible, so it might get preserved...the foliage is amazing--it's like hard plastic--preserves all moisture.